For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.
The Father Himself personally loves all who have loved Jesus and have believed that He came out from God. That love was not created by the giving of His Son, but was so great that He gave His Son so that it could be believed, and it is no less than the Son's love the fountain of salvation. Believers do not need Christ to persuade a reluctant Father or to beg for them, for the Father's heart is already open, satisfied with the atonement, and He receives Christ's friends as His own children with a love compared to His love for His own Son. Because He already loves them, they may come directly to Him with implicit trust and ask in Jesus' name, which means in His mind and Spirit, believing His promises and doing His works, while Christ as intercessor places all the virtue of His righteousness on their side. The Father is in harmony with such prayer and lays open all the treasures of His grace to answer it, giving confidence, courage and assurance that even those who grieve over faults are not rejected but are to be restored to His purity and holiness and to fullness of joy.
Setting and Understanding
Jesus spoke these words in the upper room to His faithful disciples alone after Judas withdrew, when relief came and a heavenly peace returned to His worn countenance, because He did not wish to speak before the multitude what they could not understand of the sacred truths He was about to unfold. They belong to His words of comfort, counsel, prayer, encouragement and hope recorded in John 15, 16 and 17. They were plain talk with His disciples about the difficulties, conflicts, manifold afflictions and great temptation to lose faith and be offended that they would meet from the world. He knew every phase of their experience and every conflict ahead, grieved for them, and mingled bright hopeful lines with the dark so they would not fail nor be discouraged nor be shaken, but would have courage and strength to stand firm in severe trials. The lessons were meant to make them aware of His purposes and plans and to express His love for them.
They are part of the instruction in John 14 through 17, also set forth with John 6 and John 13 through 17, that plainly expresses God's will for His people and what God desires to do for the human race and what the great Teacher has taught in every age. That instruction teaches how to receive Christ's grace, is of highest value for every soul consecrating life to God's service, is to be understood through the enlightening influence of the Spirit of God, and requires careful study and earnest practice. Its conditions must be met in order to be counted among His people when He comes in glory. Its meaning is opened when the Holy Spirit comes as on the day of Pentecost, when blinded eyes are opened and scales fall away.
Even the disciples could not fully understand these words until after the resurrection had taken place and the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost. Christ teaches them to know the Father with a knowledge that He alone can give, and though their understanding grew clearer then, complete understanding awaits the end of the conflict. This instruction had preceded His prayer for His disciples, which they fully understood and appreciated only after His resurrection and the descent of the Holy Spirit. The disciples had imprinted the words on mind and heart and repeated them again and again to stay their sinking hearts and sustain one another in great disappointment and trial. From their testimony the truth has spread over all lands and lived through all ages to comfort the hearts of the desponding and give peace and hope to thousands who believe.
The instruction calls to be lived out in practical life by living Christ's prayer to the Father before His betrayal and crucifixion, showing the unity and love contained in that prayer. Following it, believers are made one with Christ in this life and remain one with Him forever, in unity with one another and with Him. Living it cures dissension and seeking the highest place and gives strength instead of weakness. It forms an impregnable wall that withstands Satan's determined assaults to ensnare those who would work with Christ, and enables standing the test in the shaking time when everything that can be shaken will be shaken.
Father's Love in Prayer
The Father Himself personally loves those who have loved Jesus and have believed that He came out from God. Christ teaches them to know the Father, a knowledge that He alone can give. They can ask in Jesus' name because the Father already loves them, not because Jesus must persuade the Father to care for them. When they come to the Father in Jesus' name, Christ does not need to persuade the Father to hear them, for the Father's heart is open to receive their prayers and give them the riches of His grace. Jesus receives and welcomes such believers as His own friends, loves them, and has pledged to open before them all the treasures of His grace for their use. This love assures believers who grieve over their faults that they are not rejected or forsaken, for the Father desires to restore them and reflect His purity and holiness in them.
The Father's love is not caused by the gift of His Son; rather His love was so great that He gave His Son so people could believe in that tender love. His love, no less than the Son's, is the fountain and source of salvation for the lost race. The Father is not reluctant to save and persuaded by Christ, for God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, and Father and Son share the counsel of peace in Christ's work of mediation and ministration in the sanctuary above. Jesus spoke this to His disciples before He went away to assure them that the Father Himself loves them because they have loved Jesus and believed He came out from God, so they do not depend on Jesus begging the Father for them. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that believers should not perish but have everlasting life.
Believers do not need Christ to persuade an unwilling Father to receive them, nor depend only on Christ praying the Father for them. Their access to the Father in prayer does not depend on Jesus persuading the Father to love them. Christ's mediation brings them to God as His friends and children. The Father receives and welcomes Christ's friends as His friends, satisfied with the atonement and glorified by the incarnation, life, death, and mediation of His Son. In Christ's name petitions ascend to the Father, Christ intercedes in behalf of those who have received Him and places the whole virtue of His righteousness on the side of the suppliant, and the Father lays open all the treasures of His grace for appropriation.
The Father introduces believers to Himself as sons and daughters and members of the royal family. His love for those who accept Christ is compared with His love for His own Son. This love is theirs through faith in the Son and is bestowed on those who share Christ's sufferings and endure humiliation for His name. United with Christ, they are beloved by God as members of Christ's body and branches of the living Vine, and divine love flows from the Father through Christ to those united to Him. This assures believers that they are welcomed as Christ's friends and may approach the Father in Jesus' name, trusting in the riches of His grace.
Because the Father already loves them, believers can come directly to the Father with implicit trust and ask in Jesus' name. Praying in His name means more than saying His name; it means praying in His mind and spirit, believing His promises, relying on His grace, and doing His works. His name is their passport to the Father's heart and to all the riches of His grace. Christ is the connecting link and medium of prayer between God and man. Making use of Christ's name gives prayer efficiency, so that asking brings receiving and full joy.
The Father is in perfect harmony with prayers offered in Christ's name and answers them. He lays open all the treasures and riches of His grace for believers to appropriate, receive, enjoy and share. He gives them the riches of His grace, making their prayers effective and their joy full. This love grounds confidence in prayer. The disciples' understanding of His words became clearer when the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost, though complete understanding awaits the end of the conflict.
Studying these words of encouragement and hope given to strengthen disciples for severe trials gives true believers courage, strength, and assurance to stand firm. Trust in God through Christ becomes a sure anchor, for the Father watches over every household and individual, attends to sorrow and tears and is touched by weakness. He permits afflictions and trials to serve His loving purpose that people share His holiness and the fullness of joy in His presence. Divine love renews character, bringing gratitude and freeing from spiritual weakness, pride, vanity, and selfishness. Living Christ's prayer to the Father before His betrayal and crucifixion in practical life shows the unity and love contained in that prayer, bringing unity with one another and with Christ, curing dissension and seeking the highest place, giving strength instead of weakness, forming an impregnable wall that withstands Satan's determined assaults, and enabling standing the test in the shaking time when everything that can be shaken will be shaken.
The Father Himself personally loves all who have loved Jesus and have believed that He came out from God. That love was not created by the giving of His Son, but was so great that He gave His Son so that it could be believed, and it is no less than the Son's love the fountain of salvation. Believers do not need Christ to persuade a reluctant Father or to beg for them, for the Father's heart is already open, satisfied with the atonement, and He receives Christ's friends as His own children with a love compared to His love for His own Son. Because He already loves them, they may come directly to Him with implicit trust and ask in Jesus' name, which means in His mind and Spirit, believing His promises and doing His works, while Christ as intercessor places all the virtue of His righteousness on their side. The Father is in harmony with such prayer and lays open all the treasures of His grace to answer it, giving confidence, courage and assurance that even those who grieve over faults are not rejected but are to be restored to His purity and holiness and to fullness of joy.
Setting and Understanding
Jesus spoke these words in the upper room to His faithful disciples alone after Judas withdrew, when relief came and a heavenly peace returned to His worn countenance, because He did not wish to speak before the multitude what they could not understand of the sacred truths He was about to unfold. They belong to His words of comfort, counsel, prayer, encouragement and hope recorded in John 15, 16 and 17. They were plain talk with His disciples about the difficulties, conflicts, manifold afflictions and great temptation to lose faith and be offended that they would meet from the world. He knew every phase of their experience and every conflict ahead, grieved for them, and mingled bright hopeful lines with the dark so they would not fail nor be discouraged nor be shaken, but would have courage and strength to stand firm in severe trials. The lessons were meant to make them aware of His purposes and plans and to express His love for them.
They are part of the instruction in John 14 through 17, also set forth with John 6 and John 13 through 17, that plainly expresses God's will for His people and what God desires to do for the human race and what the great Teacher has taught in every age. That instruction teaches how to receive Christ's grace, is of highest value for every soul consecrating life to God's service, is to be understood through the enlightening influence of the Spirit of God, and requires careful study and earnest practice. Its conditions must be met in order to be counted among His people when He comes in glory. Its meaning is opened when the Holy Spirit comes as on the day of Pentecost, when blinded eyes are opened and scales fall away.
Even the disciples could not fully understand these words until after the resurrection had taken place and the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost. Christ teaches them to know the Father with a knowledge that He alone can give, and though their understanding grew clearer then, complete understanding awaits the end of the conflict. This instruction had preceded His prayer for His disciples, which they fully understood and appreciated only after His resurrection and the descent of the Holy Spirit. The disciples had imprinted the words on mind and heart and repeated them again and again to stay their sinking hearts and sustain one another in great disappointment and trial. From their testimony the truth has spread over all lands and lived through all ages to comfort the hearts of the desponding and give peace and hope to thousands who believe.
The instruction calls to be lived out in practical life by living Christ's prayer to the Father before His betrayal and crucifixion, showing the unity and love contained in that prayer. Following it, believers are made one with Christ in this life and remain one with Him forever, in unity with one another and with Him. Living it cures dissension and seeking the highest place and gives strength instead of weakness. It forms an impregnable wall that withstands Satan's determined assaults to ensnare those who would work with Christ, and enables standing the test in the shaking time when everything that can be shaken will be shaken.
Father's Love in Prayer
The Father Himself personally loves those who have loved Jesus and have believed that He came out from God. Christ teaches them to know the Father, a knowledge that He alone can give. They can ask in Jesus' name because the Father already loves them, not because Jesus must persuade the Father to care for them. When they come to the Father in Jesus' name, Christ does not need to persuade the Father to hear them, for the Father's heart is open to receive their prayers and give them the riches of His grace. Jesus receives and welcomes such believers as His own friends, loves them, and has pledged to open before them all the treasures of His grace for their use. This love assures believers who grieve over their faults that they are not rejected or forsaken, for the Father desires to restore them and reflect His purity and holiness in them.
The Father's love is not caused by the gift of His Son; rather His love was so great that He gave His Son so people could believe in that tender love. His love, no less than the Son's, is the fountain and source of salvation for the lost race. The Father is not reluctant to save and persuaded by Christ, for God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, and Father and Son share the counsel of peace in Christ's work of mediation and ministration in the sanctuary above. Jesus spoke this to His disciples before He went away to assure them that the Father Himself loves them because they have loved Jesus and believed He came out from God, so they do not depend on Jesus begging the Father for them. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that believers should not perish but have everlasting life.
Believers do not need Christ to persuade an unwilling Father to receive them, nor depend only on Christ praying the Father for them. Their access to the Father in prayer does not depend on Jesus persuading the Father to love them. Christ's mediation brings them to God as His friends and children. The Father receives and welcomes Christ's friends as His friends, satisfied with the atonement and glorified by the incarnation, life, death, and mediation of His Son. In Christ's name petitions ascend to the Father, Christ intercedes in behalf of those who have received Him and places the whole virtue of His righteousness on the side of the suppliant, and the Father lays open all the treasures of His grace for appropriation.
The Father introduces believers to Himself as sons and daughters and members of the royal family. His love for those who accept Christ is compared with His love for His own Son. This love is theirs through faith in the Son and is bestowed on those who share Christ's sufferings and endure humiliation for His name. United with Christ, they are beloved by God as members of Christ's body and branches of the living Vine, and divine love flows from the Father through Christ to those united to Him. This assures believers that they are welcomed as Christ's friends and may approach the Father in Jesus' name, trusting in the riches of His grace.
Because the Father already loves them, believers can come directly to the Father with implicit trust and ask in Jesus' name. Praying in His name means more than saying His name; it means praying in His mind and spirit, believing His promises, relying on His grace, and doing His works. His name is their passport to the Father's heart and to all the riches of His grace. Christ is the connecting link and medium of prayer between God and man. Making use of Christ's name gives prayer efficiency, so that asking brings receiving and full joy.
The Father is in perfect harmony with prayers offered in Christ's name and answers them. He lays open all the treasures and riches of His grace for believers to appropriate, receive, enjoy and share. He gives them the riches of His grace, making their prayers effective and their joy full. This love grounds confidence in prayer. The disciples' understanding of His words became clearer when the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost, though complete understanding awaits the end of the conflict.
Studying these words of encouragement and hope given to strengthen disciples for severe trials gives true believers courage, strength, and assurance to stand firm. Trust in God through Christ becomes a sure anchor, for the Father watches over every household and individual, attends to sorrow and tears and is touched by weakness. He permits afflictions and trials to serve His loving purpose that people share His holiness and the fullness of joy in His presence. Divine love renews character, bringing gratitude and freeing from spiritual weakness, pride, vanity, and selfishness. Living Christ's prayer to the Father before His betrayal and crucifixion in practical life shows the unity and love contained in that prayer, bringing unity with one another and with Christ, curing dissension and seeking the highest place, giving strength instead of weakness, forming an impregnable wall that withstands Satan's determined assaults, and enabling standing the test in the shaking time when everything that can be shaken will be shaken.